Fort Bizoton. A courier brings Yayou Bédouet’s pencilled note from there

Toward four in the afternoon a courier coming from Bizoton presented himself at the gate and handed Yayou a note from Bédouet, written in pencil, in which Bédouet told him that Pétion, being about to return to the town, urged him to hold firm there. A moment later, cries of *Long live Pétion rang out on every side. He had just re-entered Port-au-Prince. The crowd surrounded him and escorted him to the Dalton house, his residence, amid the liveliest acclamations. One would have said it was the arrival of a liberator; yet Yayou had already saved the town. From the Trutier landing Pétion had gone down to Mariani, as we have said. Learning that the 22nd and 23rd from Jacmel were approaching, he had sent them orders, by Colonel Bédouet, to reach Port-au-Prince at the double, since the enemy was about to assault it. The soldiers of these two corps, full of ardor against Christophe, had nearly bayoneted Bédouet when they recognized him, because he had been very devoted to Dessalines. Pétion had then hastened on to Port-au-Prince. He went along the whole line of the town and then through the streets, restored some order among the troops, completed the restoring of the citizens’ morale, and gave General Yayou, who had just won great glory, striking marks of his admiration. Yayou had been the hero of that memorable day. In this critical situation Pétion approved of his having allowed the plunder of a great number of shops, for trying to repress it would only have increased the disorder. The plundering even went on for several hours under his eyes. For that matter, the citizens who suffered it at the hands of the soldiers defending the town did not complain, knowing that if Christophe got in, most of them would lose not only their goods but their lives as well.